| BY DESIGN
What to Make of the Unconventional? Paul Jansen takes a look at the architectural characteristics of Royal Liverpool Golf Club, host of this month’s Open and one of the most unique courses on the championship rota.
Courtesy of Royal Liverpool Golf Club (Hoylake); Paul Jansen (Laguna Lang Co)
T
This rumpled fairway, surrounded by windswept dunes, is typical of many of the holes at Royal Liverpool (above right); rice paddies in evidence on the fourth hole at Laguna Lang Co in Vietnam (right) 42
HK GOLFER・JUL 2014
he Open Championship was first played at Prestwick, that grand old links on the west coast of Scotland. At that time, back in 1860, Prestwick consisted of 12 holes and would be extended to 18 holes some twenty years later. As the event grew in stature additional golf courses were added to the rota, including Royal Liverpool - or Hoylake as it is sometimes referred - in 1897. Robert Chambers and George Morris (younger brother of ‘Old’ Tom Morris of St Andrews fame) were commissioned to lay out the original course at Hoylake, which was extended to 18 holes in 1871, two years after its inception. Famed British architect Harry Colt redesigned Hoylake early in the 20th century and it has since been tweaked periodically by the firms of Hawtree and Donald Steel, mainly as a response to advances in equipment. Royal Liverpool is located on a parcel of land that “links” the sea with the town of Hoylake, less than 20km south of the old English port city that gave the world the Beatles. The golf route goes out and then comes back to the clubhouse, with no returning nines, and is laid out over coastal dune and sand. The golf is influenced by the ground to go with often fierce winds that blow off the Irish Sea. It plays hard and fast and every hole presents the golfer with an appealing problem to solve. When I visited the club back in 2006, just prior to the last time it hosted the Open Championship, I was struck by the beauty of the place – including the stately clubhouse, where I presented to a group of future golf stars on conclusion of their junior tournament. I spoke in detail about golf architecture and how a basic understanding of this art could improve their
game. During this presentation I recited a quote from legendary golfer Bobby Jones, whose win at Royal Liverpool in 1930 formed the second leg of the greatest achievement in golf – the Grand Slam. “Every golfer worthy of the name should have some acquaintance with the principles of golf course design, not only for the betterment of the game, but for his own selfish enjoyment. Let him know a good hole from a bad one and the reasons for a bunker here and another there, and he will be a long way towards pulling his score down to respectable limits. When he has taught himself to study a hole from the point of view of the man who laid it out, he will be much more likely to play it correctly” Before I spoke I was fortunate to walk each of the holes and watch as some of golf’s future stars tackled the famous links. It is interesting that many of the holes at Hoylake traverse relatively flat terrain with only a few holes nestled in high dune scape. Whilst the terrain is hardly comparable to Royal St Georges or Royal Birkdale it is no less of a challenge – in fact the holes on the flattish parcels of land are remarkably interesting and many characterful and unique. The golf course has an identity thanks in parts to its uniqueness. In fact had two of golf’s most quirky holes – the one shot “Dowie” and the two shot “Royal” – remained intact I am convinced that the club would be more identifiable and revered today. The changes to these holes were in part due to the fact that both green complexes were sat so hard up against the out of bound fence that a golfer could putt his or her ball off the course. By today’s standards this is deemed as unfair or even ridiculous. Out of bounds is a common theme at Hoylake. As early as the first hole golfers have to contend with the dreaded OB - this one an HKGOLFER.COM
internal out of bounds - that tightly hugs the right side of the hole as it doglegs sharply right tempting golfers to take it on. No easy start but it certainly grabs your attention. Out bounds on the first hole – and no less on the right side – would be seen as taboo today. It is this very thinking that partly saw the demise of both the “Dowie” and “Royal” as architects look to stay the straight and narrow and golfers jump for the sky when having to contend with anything out of the ordinary. The result being that most of our golf courses today carry a similar look and feel about them – very few are identifiable and characterful and most are stereotyped. I am with ‘Golden Age’ architect Tom Simpson in defining the merits of a stereotypical golf course: “A dull, stereotyped course is not satisfying to anyone, least of all to the designer himself, because it gives the player nothing to discover; it is read like a book and fails to interest him.” I certainly don’t advocate building a castle or church on your golf course to add memorability and character – that would simply be ‘Mickey Mouse’ – but I am of the opinion that if something different, charming or perhaps unique exists on the property then why not use it to good effect. Lest not forget that so much of golf is about discoveries and memories and how much of this is determined by what you encounter during the game. It’s hard to forget the ‘graveyard’ on the right side of the first tee at Ballybunion or the ruins on the seventh hole at Pennard. What about the rock walls of North Berwick or the rail line flanking some of the golf course at Prestwick? At Laguna Lang Co, a course I designed alongside Sir Nick Faldo in central Vietnam, we HKGOLFER.COM
The golf at Hoylake is influenced by the ground to go with often fierce winds that blow off the Irish Sea. It plays hard and fast and every hole presents the golfer with an appealing problem to solve.
were presented with the opportunity to incorporate rice paddy fields within the layout – after all, they did exist on the property to begin with. Many would deem having five hectares of paddy fields nestled within the golf as a fluky hazard but Sir Nick and I felt it would add a uniqueness, character and identity. Golfers get to experience something different and not one of them will forget the experience. Similarly at the Open this year, golfers will get to experience something a bit out of the ordinary – for no one likes ordinary. Some of the quirkiness that still remains at Hoylake will test the best and few, if any, will forget it. I leave you with Tom Simpson one more time: “Roads, railways, sheds and gardens may be thought unsatisfactory and unwelcome, yet they are often the essence of a course; take them away and the difference would at once be felt” HK GOLFER・JUL 2014
43